ROAD TRIP (3/6) : Lake Kussharo and Mount Io

On the third day morning, the weather was even worse than the day before. I planned to go to lake Mashu and hike to the top of the mount that shares the same name. The clouds were supposed to dissipate in the early afternoon so I waited but it got worse once again.

I went to Lake Kussharo instead. This one is located a few kilometres away from lake Mashu and isn’t at altitude. I hoped I could actually spot the lake’s water which I couldn’t at lake Mashu because of the fog.

From that moment on my day became incredible.

LAKE KUSSHARO

Lake Kussharo is part of Akan-Mashu national park. It is the largest caldeira lake in Japan and the largest one to freeze in winter. Its central island is ​​12km in circumference.

I don’t know where my GPS was leading me but it did well. It made me drive on a dirtpath in the woods surrounded by abandonned house. I wasn’t very reassured but that is at the end of it that the magic happened. I ended up at Ikenoyu onsen by lake Kussharo. I was all alone in this not-so-welcoming environment and I was going to take a hot bath in the wild. And that’s what I did! This moment was extraordinary. I took a bath in a very hot water under the rain. I had a beautiful view on the lake and the mountains around. At that exact moment, I was glad my day was a fiasco so far because it brought me where I was. It was one of the best time of my trip.

Being absolutely alone in the hot springs, the abandonned houses, the wind and especially the sign « Beware of bears » brought a pretty anxious atmosphere to the place. The bears most of all were scaring me. The vegetation around the lake were making quite a lot of noise because of the wind and it all sounded suspicious to me. I imagined a bear coming to take a bath with me. Or if a bear was to appear I would go in the middle of the onsen hoping that the water would be too hot for it. I evaluated the distance between the car and myself just in case I had to run very very fast (and totally nakes since I wouldn’t have time to get my clothes). Just picture it…

Except this scary side of the place (perfect for a slaughter scene in a horror movie) it is one of my favourite memories of this day and of the road trip at all.

As refreshing as I was, I had to leave at some point. On the road I stopped in Sunayu, a more touristic place where you can rent pedalos, little boat, or canoes. There’s a camping ground and a souvenir shop. You’ll notice the statue of Kussharo’s monster Kusshi that looks like the one of the Loch Ness.

On the beach the visitors are welcomed to dig the sand to make their own onsen. The temperature can go up to 60° so mix it up with the lake’s water to cool it down and enjoy a very nice foot bath.

MOUNT IO

Earlier I talked about the GPS, this time I didn’t follow its instructions without any particular reason. And I did well! If I had taken the road it wanted me to take I would have missed what’s coming next. In the car, from afar I could see some yellow on the mountain and smoke coming of it. Getting closer I could smell the disguting smell of rotten eggs. So I stopped and went for a walk on the mount Io’s active volcano. In the past sulfur was extracted from the 1500 craters of the volcano.

The landscape is lunar. a part of it is desert, there’s no vegetation only stones. Sometimes the ground gets yellowish due to the sulfur. It was the first time I saw and got close to this kind of yellow vent. You can’t stay too long there because of the smoke and the smell but it’s worth visiting this surprising place in the middle of Akan park.

To sum up, even though it didn’t start well because of the weather, this day was full of discoveries and surprises. Sometimes the unexpected is a good thing!